This is alist of songs described asfeministanthems celebratingwomen's empowerment, or used asprotest songs againstgender inequality. These songs range from airy pop affirmations such as "Girls Just Want to Have Fun" byCyndi Lauper, to solemn calls to action such as "We Shall Go Forth" byMargie Adam.
Songs have been used for many years to bring people together to work forwomen's rights. In the United States, the 1884 song "The Equal-Rights Banner" was sung to the tune of theUS national anthem byAmerican activists for women's voting rights.[1] "The March of the Women" and "The Women's Marseillaise" were sung by Britishsuffragettes as anthems of thewomen's suffrage movement in the 1900s–1910s.
The most prominent anthem ofsecond-wave feminism isHelen Reddy's "I Am Woman", apop song which appeared as an album track in 1971 without making a splash. It was released a second time in May 1972 after being altered and re-recorded. This improved version of the song slowly climbed the United States single charts, its airplay resisted by male deejays at radio stations, but urged forward by the demand of female listeners. The song finally hit number 1 in December 1972.[2] "I Am Woman", with its uplifting message of female strength, was played and sung many times by women promoting the cause of feminism. In 2020, a documentary about the making of the song was released:I Am Woman, starringTilda Cobham-Hervey as Reddy.[3]
During the 1970s, earlier songs such asAretha Franklin's "Respect" (1967) were brought forward as feminist anthems. Franklin's song, originally written byOtis Redding but significantly reworked by Franklin, serves multiple purposes including standing firm in personal relationships, advocating women's rights, and asserting racial equality forAfrican Americans.[4][5]
Before thewomen's liberation movement, popular songs sung by women often expressed subservience to men. Songs about independence from men were rare; many of these are now considered steps toward feminism. Examples includeSophie Tucker's self-explanatory "I Ain't Taking Orders From No One" (1920s), "No More" recorded in 1944 byBillie Holiday,[6] and 1965's "Ain't No Use" byNina Simone—the latter two about a woman leaving her man after suffering too many abuses.[7] Shocking in its day, the 1963 song "You Don't Own Me" sung byLesley Gore describes the singer standing up to her controlling boyfriend.[6] In 2015, singerSaygrace took Gore's song toNo. 1 in Australia with a version featuring rapperG-Eazy.[8]
Women around the world have used songs to unite in feminism and to organize for women's rights. Mexican singerVivir Quintana is known for her song "Canción sin miedo" (Song Without Fear) which in 2020 became an anthem to fightviolence against women.[9] In the Philippines, the 1981 song "Babae Ka" (You Are Woman) was covered by activistSusan Fernandez and also by the duoInang Laya in the early 1980s as a protest against the reactionary patriarchal policies of dictatorFerdinand Marcos.[10] In Chile starting in 2019, the song "Un violador en tu camino" (A Rapist in Your Path) by the collective Las Tesis has been performed by masses of women who sing and dance to protest police violence. This form of protest has spread to other countries.[11]
| Year | Artist | Song | Album | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1884 | C. C. Harrah | "The Equal-Rights Banner" | An American anthem for women's voting rights, the lyrics were written by Reverend C. C. Harrah, sung to the tune of "The Star-Spangled Banner". The second verse mentions the evil of "License", referring toalcohol abuse by men, a central issue for women in theTemperance movement.[1] | |
| 1891 (text) c.1890s (music) | Lyricist:David Edelstadt Music:Traditional | "Arbeter Froyen" | AYiddish-language poem that was adopted as a song by striking workers in the thenRussian Empire.[12][13] The song extols working-class women to stand up together in the fight for liberation as both a sex and as class.[12][13] | |
| 1908 | Florence MacAulay | "The Women's Marseillaise" | The lyrics were written byFlorence MacAulay to the tune of the French anthem "La Marseillaise". It was one of the anthems of the BritishWomen's Social and Political Union, and it was also sung in other countries.[14] | |
| 1910 | Cicely Hamilton | "The March of the Women" | With words byCicely Hamilton and music byEthel Smyth, the song was the official anthem of British women fighting for voting rights, and was also sung worldwide. | |
| 1963 | Lesley Gore | "You Don't Own Me" | Lesley Gore Sings of Mixed-Up Hearts | |
| 1967 | Aretha Franklin | "Respect" | I Never Loved a Man the Way I Love You | Written byOtis Redding and released by him in 1965, the song was changed by Franklin to suit a woman's viewpoint.[4][15] |
| 1971 | Helen Reddy | "I Am Woman" | I Don't Know How to Love Him | The song was not a chart hit until it was remade in 1972 and released as a single. The hit version was included in the albumI Am Woman released later that year.[16][2] |
| 1972 | Yoko Ono | "Sisters, O Sisters" | Some Time in New York City | Accompanied by her husbandJohn Lennon and the bandElephant's Memory, Ono encourages women to join and make the world a better place.[17] |
| 1977 | Margie Adam | "We Shall Go Forth" | Margie Adam | Adam sang the song at the1977 National Women's Conference in Houston, and it became a feminist as well as agay anthem promotingLGBT rights in the United States.[18] |
| 1978 | Gloria Gaynor | "I Will Survive" | Love Tracks | [19][20] |
| 1978 | Chaka Khan | "I'm Every Woman" | Chaka | [21] |
| 1979 | Peggy Seeger | "Reclaim the Night" | Different Therefore Equal | Based in themovement of same name, Folk singerPeggy Seeger denounces the inability of the police and courts to prosecute cases of domestic violence, and demands the right to walk at night without fear.[22] The song was sung by feminists in the 1983 documentary aboutGreenham Common Women's Peace Camp, and it has been sung at various protest marches including the2017 Women's March.[23] |
| 1979 | Sister Sledge | "We Are Family" | We Are Family | [24][25] |
| 1980 | Dolly Parton | "9 to 5" | 9 to 5 and Odd Jobs | Created for the playful-but-anti-patriarchal comedy film9 to 5, the song was picked up as an anthem for women working in the office.[7] |
| 1980s | Naomi Littlebear Morena | "You Can't Kill the Spirit" | Sung by thousands at theGreenham Common Women's Peace Camp in the 1980s.[26] | |
| 1981 | Sister Sledge | "All American Girls" | All American Girls | [27] |
| 1982 | Grace Jones | "Nipple to the Bottle" | Living My Life | [28] |
| 1983 | Cyndi Lauper | "Girls Just Want to Have Fun" | She's So Unusual | Described as a feminist anthem for its perky assertion of feminine solidarity.[29] |
| 1983 | Donna Summer | "She Works Hard for the Money" | She Works Hard for the Money | [30][31] |
| 1985 | Eurythmics | "Sisters Are Doin' It for Themselves" | Be Yourself Tonight | FeaturingAretha Franklin, the song also appearing on her albumWho's Zoomin' Who?.[15] |
| 1989 | Queen Latifah | "Ladies First" | All Hail the Queen | FeaturingMonie Love.[32] |
| 1989 | Tears for Fears | "Woman in Chains" | The Seeds of Love | FeaturingOleta Adams.[33] |
| 1992 | Mary Chapin Carpenter | "He Thinks He'll Keep Her" | Come On Come On | Acountry music song in which an unappreciated wife leaves her husband of 15 years to join the workforce.[15] |
| 1993 | Bikini Kill | "Rebel Girl" | Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah | Produced byJoan Jett who also plays guitar, the song celebrates the sisterhood ofpunk. It is a leading example of the 1990sriot grrrl feminist movement.[15][7] |
| 1993 | Queen Latifah | "U.N.I.T.Y." | Black Reign | Ahip hop song that confronts violence against women, it providedQueen Latifah with her biggest chart hit and aGrammy Award.[15][7] |
| 1995 | No Doubt | "Just a Girl" | Tragic Kingdom | No Doubt's frontwomanGwen Stefani rails against the assumption that women are submissive to men.[15] |
| 1998 | Rachael Sage | "Sistersong" | Smashing the Serene | Sage wrote "Sistersong" as a tribute to women's independence, honoringAni DiFranco who established her own record label. In 2018, Sage reworked the song and released it in acoustic form as "Sistersong 2018" for the#MeToo movement, with proceeds benefitingGirls, Inc.[34][35] |
| 1999 | Le Tigre | "Hot Topic" | Le Tigre | Riot grrrl band Le Tigre honors feminist heroes such asYoko Ono,Joan Jett,Nina Simone andAretha Franklin.[15] |
| 2001 | Paulina Rubio | "Yo No Soy Esa Mujer" | Paulina | "Yo No Soy Esa Mujer" (I Am Not That Woman) shows the singer telling her man that she will not be subservient.[36] |
| 2003 | Christina Aguilera | "Can't Hold Us Down" | Stripped | FeaturingLil' Kim.[37][38] |
| 2005 | Robyn | "Handle Me" | Robyn | [39] |
| 2007 | Annie Lennox | "Sing" | Songs of Mass Destruction | "Sing" is acharity single that features 19 other women singing, includingMadonna,Faith Hill,k. d. lang,Dido and more. Proceeds benefitedTreatment Action Campaign.[40] |
| 2008 | Beyoncé | "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)" | I Am... Sasha Fierce | "Single Ladies" brings women together to celebrate independence.[41][42] |
| 2011 | Beyoncé | "Run the World (Girls)" | 4 | "Run the World (Girls)" encourages female empowerment.[43] |
| 2012 | Marina Diamandis | "Sex Yeah" | Electra Heart | A track about societalgender roles assigned at birth, described as a "feminist statement".[44] |
| 2012 | M.I.A. | "Bad Girls" | Matangi | [45][46] |
| 2013 | Lily Allen | "Hard out Here" | Sheezus | "Hard out Here" received critical acclaim upon release.Rolling Stone praised the song calling it a "feminist anthem through and through", and noted the subjects which Allen tackles including "tired gender roles and expectations to double standards regarding sex and appearance for men and women".[47] |
| 2015 | Marina Diamandis | "Can't Pin Me Down" | Froot | “Can’t Pin Me Down” provides a candid and direct callout of misconceptions surrounding feminism and the actions of women.[48] |
| 2015 | Downtown Boys | "Monstro" | Full Communism | Downtown Boys are a "sax punk" band fromRhode Island, with several women members.Spin magazine described the band's lead single "Monstro" as a "thrashing feminist anthem".[49] |
| 2015 | Speedy Ortiz | "Raising the Skate" | Foil Deer | Described byFlavorwire as a feminist anthem, the singer faces her male opposition to "prove 'em wrong".[50] |
| 2016 | Anna Wise | "BitchSlut" | "BitchSlut" is about double standards, and was described byHuffPost as a "gratifying rundown of slut-shaming and sexist culture".[51][52] | |
| 2017 | Milck | "Quiet" | The song "Quiet" was performed byMilck and 26 singers for the2017 Women's March. Uploaded videos went viral.[7][53][54] | |
| 2017 | Zolita | "Fight Like a Girl" | Sappho | i-D magazine wrote that thecontemporary R&B song "Fight Like a Girl" is "a bewitching feminist power anthem championing equal rights and diversity."[55] |
| 2017 | Rachel Platten | "Broken Glass" | Waves | Idolator wrote that the song is "an uplifting feminist anthem".[56] |
| 2017 | Mona Haydar | "Hijabi (Wrap My Hijab)" | "Hijabi" was aviral video in 2017, Haydar's first international hit song.Billboard magazine named it one of the “Top 25 Feminist Anthems."[57] | |
| 2018 | Kesha | "Woman" | Rainbow | Thefunk/pop song "Woman" emphatically asserts the singer's self-sufficiency and independence.Parade listed it as one of Kesha's "empowering feminist anthems".[58] |
| 2018 | Christina Aguilera | "Fall in Line" | Liberation | FeaturingDemi Lovato.[59] |
| 2018 | Ariana Grande | "God Is a Woman" | Sweetener | This anthemic fusion ofhip hop and pop ends with a gospel-inflected swell. The song's video shows the singer embracing her feminine power, rejecting the insults of small-minded men, and allowing her womanly divinity to shine out.[7] |
| 2018 | Little Mix featuringNicki Minaj | "Woman Like Me" | LM5 | Jess Glynne andEd Sheeran wrote the song for Glynne, but they offered it toLittle Mix instead.Nicki Minaj raps on the third verse. MTV said the "girl power" song challenges the stereotype of submissive women.[60] |
| 2018 | Lynzy Lab | "A Scary Time" | Hollywood Reporter classified thisviral video as a feminist anthem, the singer protesting against comments made byDonald Trump related to the media attention surroundingBrett Kavanaugh's sexual attack ofChristine Blasey Ford.[61] | |
| 2018 | BoA | "Woman" | Woman | TheKorean language song "Woman" was described byRolling Stone India as aK-pop feminist anthem promoting women's self-sufficiency and diversity.[62] |
| 2018 | Meg Mac | "Give Me My Name Back" | Hope | Australian singer-songwriterMeg Mac broadens the scope of this anthem to include women's rights, the rights ofindigenous Australians, civil rights for theLGBT community, and reparations for those who sufferedCatholic Church sexual abuse as children.[63][64] |
| 2018 | Little Mix | "Joan of Arc" | LM5 | Idolator wrote that this upbeat dance number was a "fiercely feminist anthem".[65] |
| 2018 | Sara Bareilles | "Armor" | Amidst the Chaos | Bareilles wrote and released "Armor" as part of the#MeToo movement.[66] |
| 2019 | CLC | "NO" | "No.1" | The theme of the song is that people shouldn’t try to impose their beauty expectations on women. The opening lines are about how frivolous beauty related gifts are and they emphasise that women are much more than their beauty. “Red Lip, NO / Earrings, NO / High heels, NO / Handbag, NO”[67] |
| 2019 | Avril Lavigne | "Dumb Blonde" | Head Above Water | FeaturingNicki Minaj.[68] |
| 2019 | Tamara Todevska | "Proud" | Todevska performed the song at theEurovision Song Contest 2019, representingNorth Macedonia. The song celebrates womanhood and feminism, but is also intended for any downtrodden person striving for equality.[69] | |
| 2019 | Miley Cyrus | "Mother's Daughter" | She Is Coming | On October 22, 2020, theConstitutional Tribunal of Poland ruled that anabortion in cases of "disability or incurable illness" of fetus is unconstitutional (in practice, the provision that was ruled unconstitutional represented the majority of more than 90% abortions legally done in Poland each year). Due to this, "Mother's Daughter" went viral in Poland, becoming one of the most listened to songs at the time.Thousands of women took the streets to demand decriminalization of abortion with phrases inspired by the verses of the song such as "Don't mess with my freedom" written on posters. The phenomenon had several pictures circulating the internet, as well as videos of the protesters singing the song, and was also shared and endorsed by Cyrus on her social media.[70][71] |
| 2019 | Las Tesis | "A Rapist in Your Path" | Chileanprotest song and performance piece to protest police violence against women.[11] | |
| 2019 | MAMAMOO | "HIP" | Reality in Black | The girls send flying gender roles in society, more precisely in jobs.[72] |
| 2020 | Vivir Quintana | "Canción sin miedo" | Commissioned by Chilean singerMon Laferte to perform at a women's equality festival inMexico City, Quintana's recording of the song "Canción sin miedo" (Song Without Fear) went viral onWhatsApp prior to the festival.[9] | |
| 2020 | Ava Max | "Kings & Queens" | Heaven & Hell | Max sings to the power of women, requiring equality with men.[73] |
| 2020 | Refund Sisters | "Don't Touch Me" | Supergroup singing about consent to touch somebody's body, here women's ones.[74] | |
| 2020 | Marina Diamandis | "Man's World" | With the lyrics about the womanhood treatment in history, Marina assembled an all-star team of female collaborators to create song and video after learning that women account for only two percent of producers and three percent of engineers involved in popular music. As explained by Marina herself, "The original idea for the song was to write a snapshot of how women and LGBTQ+ individuals have been subjugated and discriminated against throughout history going back to the Salem witch trials, where any person who was deemed abnormal or slightly alternative was singled out."[75][76] | |
| 2021 | Loud Women | "Reclaim These Streets" | Acharity single written by Cassie Fox with additional lyrics performed byBrix Smith, featuring 60 British women singing, includingSiobhan Fahey,Debbie Googe,Charley Stone,Debbie Smith,Laura Kidd and many more.Loud Women, a non-profit organization, released the song as part of protests against thedeath of Sarah Everard. | |
| 2021 | Samanta Tīna | "The Moon Is Rising" | Tīna performed the song for theEurovision Song Contest 2021, representingLatvia. The song describes women taking control of their lives.[77] | |
| 2021 | Yola | "Stand for Myself" | Stand for Myself | Consequence called the song "a Black feminist anthem".[78] |
| 2021 | Emmy Meli | "I Am Woman" | Filled withself-affirmations, the song went viral onTikTok in October 2021, inspiring many morecover versions.[79] | |
| 2021 | Christina Aguilera | "Pa Mis Muchachas" | Aguilera | Aguilera joins AmericanBecky G and ArgentinesNicki Nicole andNathy Peluso to perform the song "Pa Mis Muchachas" (For My Girls) which has been called a "decadent,grrl-power–filled showcase"[80] and "a modern-day girl-power anthem that honors the Latinas that came before us".[81] |
| 2022 | St. Vincent | "The Melting of the Sun" | Daddy's Home | Rolling Stone wrote that in "The Melting of the Sun" Anne Clark muses on women who have been crushed or otherwise mistreated by the entertainment industry, as she explains it is "a love letter to strong, brilliant female artists."[82] |
| 2022 | Florence and the Machine | "King" | Dance Fever | Grazia magazine wrote that "King" is 2022's feminist anthem. The singer reflects on the contradictions of womanhood.[83] |
| 2022 | Mehdi Yarrahi | "Soroode Zan" ("Woman's Anthem") | Iranian lyricist and poetMona Borzouei wrote the words to "Woman's Anthem", sung byMehdi Yarrahi who wrote the music as a response to thedeath of Mahsa Amini. Borzouei was arrested by Iranian authorities for advocating women's rights, as part of theMahsa Amini protests in September 2022. The song repeats the protest slogan "Woman, Life, Freedom" in the Iranian language.[84][85] | |
| 2023 | Vesna | "My Sister's Crown" | This song, described byBBC News andThe Times as a feminist anthem, represented theCzech Republic in the Eurovision Song Contest 2023.[86][87] | |
| 2023 | Demi Lovato | "Swine" | Lovato wrote and released "Swine" in response to the one-year anniversary of theSupreme Court's decision to overturnRoe v. Wade in 2022.Billboard describes "Swine" as a "long lost nu-metal anthem" in which Lovato "rage[s] against the system that aims to strip women of their bodily autonomy."[88] | |
| 2023 | Paris Paloma | "Labour" | "Labour" has been described as an "anthem for female rage" that addresses issues ofgender inequality within societal structures.[89] Snippets from the song went viral on TikTok receiving over 1 million streams onSpotify within 24 hours of release, and 1 million views on YouTube. After the single's release, it started aviral trend in which women postedTikTok videos with the song where they described their own personal experiences with sexism | |
| 2023 | Hwasa | "I Love My Body" | Ode to self-love, and more particularly the love of one's body as a woman.[90] | |
| 2024 | Jennie | "Mantra" | Ruby | A girl-power song encouraging self-empowerment, the lyrics underscore the theme of women standing for each other.[91] |
| 2026 | Paris Paloma | "Good Girl" | "[A] rejection of the idea that a woman’s body exists for consumption or ornamentation, insisting instead on bodily autonomy and self-definition."[92] |
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